Michael Coleman was born and raised in Provo, Utah and spent his boyhood hunting, fishing and trapping throughout the Rocky Mountains. Early on, he decided on a career in art, studying at Brigham Young University. His paintings are rich in detail and muted in tone, true to the remote landscapes he chooses to illustrate. The Indian encampments, wildlife and hunting subjects portrayed against these magnificent areas are rendered in such a way as to give the viewer a sense of gazing on the past.
Coleman loves best the dusky, gray, misty, muted tones of fall and early winter. His paintings evoke the early 19th century masters of the Hudson River School, artists whom he credits with deeply influencing his art. The mood he captures is that to which all painters of the mystique and power of the tradition and lore of the West aspire.